![\"savannah](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/savannah-sparrow-1635-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDuring our last Montana trip we had multiple sessions over several days with a very cooperative Savannah Sparrow – “cooperative” in the sense that the bird\u00a0could always be found in the same\u00a0spot along the shore of Lower Red Rock Lake in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.\u00a0 Getting clear shots as the sparrow hunted in the\u00a0grasses was often another story.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 t, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I have no clue if the bird was male or female since the sexes are alike and they both feed their young but this parent\u00a0was kept busy trying to satisfy the food demands of a single fledgling.\u00a0 The youngster was usually hidden away in the grasses but occasionally it would come out in the “open” and beg for food as it followed its hunting parent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 t, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Getting clear shots of the feeding process was a challenge and in the process\u00a0I learned another photography lesson from these birds – next time I’ll use my 100-400 mm zoom lens in a situation like this rather than my 500mm prime.\u00a0 The birds were so quick and they were often so tight in the frame that I spent most of my time searching for them through my viewfinder.\u00a0 By the time I found them and\u00a0almost locked focus on them they were often\u00a0already gone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another challenge was the flying insects.\u00a0 Hordes of them!\u00a0 There were horse flies, deer flies, mosquitoes and many others.\u00a0 As you can see, one species (not mosquitoes)\u00a0had a particular affinity for my windshield but thankfully they didn’t bite.\u00a0 But since we obviously have to shoot with the windows open the biting species ate us alive, even after we almost bathed in Deet.\u00a0 We did a lot of what I call “itchin and bitchin” while photographing the sparrow and for a long time after.<\/p>\n Sharp-eyed readers\u00a0may notice the mileage on my pickup from the oil change sticker on the windshield.\u00a0 The pickup is barely over three years old and will turn over 100,000 miles this week.\u00a0 I estimate that over 90,000 of those miles are “bird miles”.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes I think I’m just a little bit crazy…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a01\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 400, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 t, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Two\u00a0summers ago and in the same general area I photographed this Savannah Sparrow feeding a Brown-Headed Cowbird chick.\u00a0 As most of my readers are aware, cowbirds parasitize other species by laying eggs in their nests.\u00a0 The host species hatchlings often do not survive as the much larger and more aggressive cowbird chicks get most of the food that is delivered to the nest (interestingly it’s relatively rare for cowbirds to parasitize Savannah Sparrows).<\/p>\n So on this last trip I was pleased to see the Savannah Sparrow feeding one\u00a0of its own.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During our last Montana trip we had multiple sessions over several days with a very cooperative Savannah Sparrow – “cooperative” in the sense that the bird could always be found in the same spot along the shore of Lower Red Rock Lake in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.<\/p>\n![\"savannah](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/savannah-sparrow-1577-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"bugs](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/bugs-1845-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"savannah](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/savannah-sparrow-8957b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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